has been widely reported of inanimate objects addressing him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, greeting him, and yearning for him; of livestock, wild animals, birds, and infants in their cradles speaking; and of other such things.

He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Beasts have been denied understanding except in three matters.”

He then mentioned their knowledge of their Creator.

These beings are incapable of inference and reflection; they possess neither reason, choice, nor the power of acquisition. Yet their knowledge of their Creator, mighty and majestic is He, is rationally intelligible and established by the Quran and Sunnah.

This is clear and manifest, ruling out the acquisition of this knowledge through intermediaries, for it is His due, mighty and majestic is He. He excludes from Himself what encompasses all created beings, whether known or unknown. For He, glorified is He, created things unknown, then disclosed them through names, so that they became known after having been unknown. This is evidence of their having come into existence. He is therefore far above resembling originated things, which become known through something other than themselves.

One of the sages expressed an irrefutable maxim:

“Everything known through something other than itself is unknown, and everything whose completeness depends on another is an effect.”

He spoke well and correctly. For a thing’s being known through another is conclusive testimony that it bears the defect of being unknown, which was lifted upon its change—without which it would not have been known. Thus, its being known through another plainly proclaims its dependence on that through which the defect of being unknown was removed from it. That other is a cause, and a cause accompanies only an effect.